When it comes to mobile games, there aren’t that many titles which can even compare with Clash of Clans. The developer who is in charge of Clash of Clans is constantly rolling out new updates which are filled with lots of in-game goodies such as new features, rewards and even content! In fact, a brand-new Clash of Clans update which changes the game’s version number to “10.134.17” is now available.

Clash of Clans 10.134.17 Update

The new update measures in at 98.6MB and it requires a minimum of Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system in order to work. As you can probably tell already, the new update is exclusive to Android smartphone owners and iOS fans will need to wait a little more until it becomes available for them too.

Bug Fixes and Software Improvements

Android fans should be happy to know that they are going to get their hands on this update ahead of everyone else because it comes with bug fixes and software improvements. While most people don’t pay that much attention to bug fixes and software improvements, they are the ones which make sure that Clash of Clans runs without any issues and that it never randomly crashes in the middle of combat.

Highlight Features

Now that we talked about the latest Clash of Clans update, let’s check out some of the game’s highlight features and see what it’s all about. First off, the game is free to play but readers shouldn’t think that the game is not of premium quality because of this.

Clash of Clans offers an awesome gaming experience where people get to build their own villages and then slowly, but surely transform them into unbeatable fortresses. In addition, Clash of Clans features different mods where players can fight against their foes and take their trophies.

Supercell announced that Clash Royale is scheduled to receive a major update on June 5th, 2018. The game developer has made it a tradition to release massive updates during summer time and to make things even better, the new Clash Royale update will focus on adding more features, gameplay changes and to balance classes. With that being said, let’s check out what are the most important changes that the new update will bring.

Four New Cards

Even though Supercell doesn’t want to unveil any important details about the upcoming update, the Clash Royale community has strong reason to believe that four new cards are going to be introduced in June. In addition, dataminers managed to find some hints which point towards these new cards.

Clan War

Talking about balancing the game, Supercell is expected to add some important software tweaks to the Clan Wars game inside Clash Royale. The last time Clan Wars received an update was back in April and rumor has it that the game developer is looking to fix tie games and to give players more incentive to mix in different troops in order to create a diverse war deck.

Funny Emotes

If we take a look at what the Clash Royale community has to say about emotes, we will see that they are both hated and loved. Some people love them because they make it easier to express themselves while others hate emojis because trolls spam them in the chat and this can get annoying. Nonetheless, Supercell wants to expand the range of emojis Clash Royale offers and fans should be ready to see more funny emojis in the summer.

New Troops

Last but not least, a previously leaked picture showed that Supercell plans to introduce a new Elite Archer troop. The special thing about this troop is that it uses a crossbow, and this might make it more powerful than the normal Archer class that we all know and love.

Whether you are a beginner or a professional player, the essence is advice on strategy. You don’t have to be a new player to learn, nor do you have to be an expert and to know everything. Crashing your enemies on your next mission will be easier with these quick Clash of Clans tips, so the battlefield may be perfect.

Choose wise targets
When you go to attack, it’s very important to ask for as little resources as possible and to steal as many as possible in Clash of Clans. Theoretically, this would be possible to accomplish relatively comfortably with a few hordes of archers, barbarians and goblins. Practically, it becomes very difficult because of mortars, the most dangerous “splash” type of defensive that ravages in the hijacking hordes. The secret is that using Lightning Spell with 4+ upgrades, you can easily escape from level 4-5 mortars, providing a break in the direction of attack of predator hordes. The success of a farming raid is much more likely in this case, with minimal consumption of resources.

2. A strong army camp is a key
In general, you have a whole day before the war begins. During this waiting period, learn the battlefield, arrange the army and upgrade your air defense. If the walls are low, go for the battlefields. Pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of the target group before launching an attack.

3. Understand the idea of losing
Probably you’ve met many players in the game who have the Town Hall exposed, unprotected by walls or other defensive means. You have probably thought that there is no reasonable reason to leave Town Hall exposed to vandals, especially since, if it is destroyed, the struggle is lost. Wrong. This is a smart way of losing and fast moving into the game.

There are several reasons, but most importantly, whenever someone attacks you and destroys you, you will get at least one shield for 12 hours. In this way, regardless of the value of the attack you receive, you assure a relatively permanent shield, which in fact leads to the protection of the production of resources (elixir, gold), thus to development. Use this to create your advantage. Surround the Town Hall with traps (bombs, hoods, and tesla), discouraging the attack plan from the start.

GTA 5 has been a standout amongst the best games ever, and now, the same (or considerably more) is anticipated from its successor, the GTA 6. It is relied upon to be unique in relation to the past adaptations from multiple points of view, and ideally, it will satisfy the monstrous desires that have been developed by the past titles.

A standout amongst the most anticipated and expected changes in the Grand Theft Auto 6 is the introduction of a female hero as opposed to the typical all solid male saints in the course of the last five titles, like the trio formed of Franklin, Trevor and Michael from GTA 5, Carl “CJ” Johnson from GTA San Andreas or Niko from GTA 4.

We’ll get a strong female character
Rockstar hasn’t presented any strong female character since Catalina from GTA 3. Likewise, the engineer has been criticized for a sexist demeanor towards the female characters, on account of the strip clubs and whores in its games. Along these lines, the time has come for Rockstar changes course by demonstrating the world how well it can put a strong female character in the game. What’s more, there is no better method to answer the sceptics by presenting a female lead in the GTA 6.

Further, there have been gossipy tidbits that Vice City would be back in the GTA 6. The thought is certainly engaging. The GTA arrangement has been running for as long as 21 years, and returning to where everything began isn’t an awful thought with some corrective changes and distinctive condition. With Vice City back in the game, GTA would likewise get the chance to pivot the whole establishment, offering another series and more interest to the present generation.

Clash of Clans was originally launched in 2012 and the game has managed to keep its popularity along the years. The thing that keeps players coming back for more even after so many years is the fact that Supercell, the game’s developer, keeps releasing updates that include new content, features and software tweaks.

Clash of Clans Town Hall 12

The Clash of Clans community has been speculating that the next update Supercell is going to launch will introduce the highly anticipated Town Hall 12 and to everyone’s surprise, it seems like the community was right! Supercell recently published a short video teaser on YouTube where it announced that players should be ready to receive Town Hall 12.

Weaponized Town Hall

While the details about the new town hall are scarce, we do know that it’s going to be the first weaponized Town Hall in the game. In fact, the video teaser starts with the announcer saying that the town hall has always been a place of peace, but not anymore.

Electricity Defense System

Supercell has been doing a great job of keeping details about the new Town Hall a secret so that it can use the element of surprise when the official update is rolled out to everyone. However, this isn’t stopping the community from speculating about how the new town hall will be able to attack enemies.

The main theory is that Town Hall 12 will feature a special electricity defense system which will throw out splash damage. This is great news for Clash of Clans fans because it means that their new Town Hall will be able to destroy standard units such as Barbarians and Archers.

Changed Aesthetics

Lastly, the coolest thing about the new Town Hall is the fact that it changes aesthetics as players progress through the game. We know from a leak that there will be five levels of the Town Hall and that all of them will look amazing.

Amazon has the Piper Minecraft Raspberry Pi Computer Kit on sale for $213.03, which is the lowest this has been all year. It typically would run you almost $300.

With this kit, your child can solve puzzles in the Raspberry Pi edition of Minecraft by building their very own computer from start to finish. Once that’s done, they can keep building power-ups within the game by using physical controls, switches, buttons, and lights. It’s perfect for kids ages 7 to 13.

This kit rocks because it combines the technology and fun that children love with hands-on learning, which is not something that can often be said when it comes to hours of watching YouTube Kids or Spongebob. It introduces them to coding, programming, and building in a way that keeps their attention and focus. One reviewer said, “My son hates school and says he hates to learn. But he LOVES his PIPER and doesn’t realize how much he is learning.”

Remember when you used to tear the remote apart, and then put it back together, just to see how it worked? This kit is kind of like that, but your kids will be guided through the whole process with step-by-step instructions. It comes with a handcrafted wooden computer case with HD LCD display, a functioning computer running on a Raspberry Pi 3 project board, a ton of electronic gadgets like buzzers and lights, cables, a laminated blueprint with assembly instructions, a USB mouse, an 8GB SD card, and a custom Raspberry Pi Edition of Minecraft. It’s Wi-Fi enabled and has free automatic level updates as well.

It has been announced that Minecraft Bedrock will be released for Nintendo Switch in June. According to Mojang, with this update the company will address all the existing issues.

Multiple platforms, one codebase
First of all, the Bedrock update will make it easier for future updates to be implemented on all platforms at more or less the same time. This is extremely important because so far every platform had to get its own version of Minecraft, each with a unique codebase. Because of this, it was much harder for Mojang to release updates, as every platform required a separate update for the game.

Improved Cross-Play
Secondly, different versions of Minecraft created for different platforms meant that cross-play between players that were not using the same platform was much more complicated. The Bedrock update will use just one codebase, thus making it possible for gamers to play with each other using distinct consoles. However, not all platforms will be included in this unification. As usual, Sony wants to stay away from the others, so cross-play between PlayStation and other platforms will be impossible.

One update for all platforms
The Bedrock update of Minecraft will not only improve compatibility between different consoles, but it will also allow for any future updates to be released on all platforms, at pretty much the same time.

Also, the Minecraft Marketplace will become available for Switch users. With this feature, they will gain access to additional content created by other users, such as skins, textures and even entire worlds. Additionally, you’ll be offered some mini-games through the community servers.

The Bedrock update will be available for you at no cost at all in case you already have Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition. If not, you can purchase it from the Nintendo shop online or you can buy a physical copy. You can get your own copy for approximately $30, starting with June 21st.

At E3 today, DICE revealed several big updates to Star Wars Battlefront II. Players will be able to play during the Clone Wars era, and the game will introduce several new playable characters, including Anakin Skywalker, Count Dooku, General Grievous, and Obi-Wan Kenobi. There’s no release date yet for the DLC.

While Battlefront II has allowed you to play as a clone trooper, it’s largely focused on the latest series of films: The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and Rogue One. This is the first time that Battlefront II players will be able to play as characters from the the prequel era, or to visit the planet Geonosis, where the Clone Wars began in Attack of the Clones. Design director Dennis Brannvall says that it’ll also include “the largest level we’ve ever built for Battlefront.”

In addition to the Clone Wars era, EA announced that it will introduce new content to its Han Solo season next week, including a new squad system and a new starfighter mode, as well as new environments on Kessel. It will also bring back the Extraction game mode. These updates will be released on June 12th.

During its presentation, EA acknowledged it had a “rough start,” after a heated controversy over loot boxes last November, prompting it to backtrack and overhaul its progression system.

In addition to the updates with Battlefront 2, Titanfall developer Respawn teased its own Star Wars game, which will be set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. It’ll hit stores next year and will be titled Jedi: Fallen Order.

Minecraft for the Nintendo Switch is about to get a lot bigger with a new update that brings the universal Minecraft Bedrock Engine to Nintendo’s portable console on June 21st, enabling cross-play between the Switch and the PC, Xbox One, and mobile versions of the game.

The cross-platform update is actually pretty late in coming to the Switch — it was announced back at E3 last year, and hit the other platforms last September. The Switch release was then promised for later in the winter, which, based on the June release date, it obviously didn’t quite hit. The updated Minecraft will also support Nintendo’s new online service for the Switch when it launches later this year.

Along with the new update, a physical version of Minecraft for the Switch is getting released for $29.99, should you prefer to own hard copies of your games instead of digital downloads.

All public school students will now be able to play Minecraft in class as the government foots the bill for the popular game.

Education Minister James Merlino announced today that all public school students will have access to the game.

“And in this game you can build digital worlds, but in some versions you can also do things like fighting zombies with swords,” Tom Elliott said.

Rebecca Martin, digital technologies coach at Fitzroy North Primary School, told Tom Elliott that aspect of the game isn’t used in her school.

“The benefit of the education version is that you can actually turn that off,” Rebecca said.

“We’ve been using Minecraft in the classroom for about eight years.

“For example, our 5/6 students have been looking at space and whether life can be sustained on another planet, so they jet off on a new planet that they have to colonize.

“They have to learn about sustainability, energy choices, economics and citizenship.”

Tom Elliott then spoke with an avid player, a captain, in fact, of the Minecraftables at school – his daughter Ava!

“I like it so much,” she said.

Minecraft fans downloaded fewer pieces of content from the game’s marketplace last month, but the top-10 lists for most downloaded and top grossing are both still excellent reminders of the variety and fun that players can find in that store. The Minecraft Marketplace had 285,816 downloads in April, which is down from 321,317 in March and 372,509 in February.

Welcome! You’ve once again found yourself reading GamesBeat’s monthly analysis of the Minecraft Marketplace, which is the block-building phenomenon’s platform for extra content from the Minecraft team as well as external developers. If this is your first time here, you can see the results from past months right here. We do have some new names on the charts, but once again, developers like PixelHeads are dominating.

But we can also see that teams that specialize in roleplay content like InPvP are also thriving with the No. 2 and No. 3 spot on the most-downloaded top 10. Maybe we’ll see developers chasing that trend, or maybe we’ll see some new fad break through in May.

Let’s do the charts.

Here are the top-10 most downloaded pieces of content from the Minecraft Marketplace in April 2018:

Click to view slideshow.
Here’s the top 10 in list form:

City Life
BrightStart Daycare
Prison Escape
Dinosaur Island
K-Pop: Teenage Rebellion
Wildlife: Savanna
Oropia
Summer Mini Games Festival
Chroma Hills HD
Steampunk Castle
And here’s the top-grossing list for April 2018:

Click to view slideshow.
City Life
Dinosaur Island
Wildlife: Savanna
BrightStart Daycare
Chroma Hills HD
Prison Escape
Relics of the Privateers
Lapis Lagoon
K-Pop: Teenage Rebellion
PureBDcraft
The Marketplace is already growing, and we can see that new content always causes download numbers to pop from month to month. But as the Marketplace hits new platforms as Bedrock launches on devices (like Nintendo Switch on June 21), content creators will have a chance to hit entirely new audiences. That’s a big opportunity for a group of Marketplace devs that are already making a living doing what they are doing.

Minecraft Marketplace creators have seen a lot of success this year as more players get into the Bedrock version of the game, which is the universal build of Minecraft that is available on Windows 10, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and mobile devices. Minecraft Bedrock is coming to Switch on June 21, and this will give the creators in the Minecraft Marketplace access to a growing audience of engaged gamers who are spending money.

While the classic version of Minecraft lives on with full support from Microsoft, it is the Bedrock version that is the future of Minecraft as a platform. When this version hits the Switch, players will have the opportunity to sign in with their Xbox Live handle (on a Nintendo device) to enjoy cross-platform play with friends on PCs, Xbox Ones, or smartphones. And if players have purchased content through the Bedrock version on other platforms, those will carry over to the Switch.

For Microsoft, the benefit here is that it has one Minecraft code that it needs to update and maintain, and then it can make additional revenues from the Minecraft Marketplace. And players are potentially more willing to invest in the Marketplace since Microsoft is doing the work to guarantee that content purchases will carry over to future devices.

And all of this is a significant opportunity for developers building content for the Minecraft Marketplace.

“I do think the extra growth will be significant. Nintendo gamers, if you treat them right, will reward you with lots of love and, here’s hoping, high sales,” Minecraft Marketplace partner Jigarbov told GamesBeat. “Minecraft is one of those games that transcends platform boundaries and feels right at home on the Switch, so I think the user base will flock to the well-made content the Marketplace offers.”

One of Jigarbov’s fellow creators echoed that sentiment.

“Having Minecraft, the most popular game in history, with the largest community of creators of any game ever, put on one of the most-sold consoles in the world is an amazing opportunity for growth and the creation of new playstyles and experiences,” Minecraft Marketplace partner Mariana “RazzleberryFox” Graham told GamesBeat. “I am really looking forward to seeing how the Marketplace is going to perform on this platform and what we will be able to do with it.”

But even beyond the potential to sell more creations on the Marketplace, these developers are excited by the prospect of seeing their work on a Nintendo platform. Both Jigarbov and RazzleberryFox say they are lifelong Nintendo fans, and so the Marketplace opening up on the Switch means a lot to them.

“My first console was an NES,” said RazzleberryFox. “Since I was a kid, Nintendo has been the household name for gaming consoles and handhelds, more than any other brand. I owned every single one of them. Being able to release something on a platform carrying this name is a huge achievement for me. It’s literally a dream come true.”

Jigarbov said he always dreamed of “making Nintendo games,” and now through Minecraft, he has.

“Just seeing Jigarbov there on the store list, something I built for sale, on a Nintendo platform is extremely exciting,” he said. “The success of the Marketplace and the multitude of platforms it has been on has been wonderful, especially when I want to explain to someone what I do for a living. Just being able to whip out my phone and navigate to the store, now I’ll be able to do it when I’m travelling with my Switch. It’s a great feeling.”

Minecraft partner relations boss Todd Stevens says this is exactly the kind of response the Minecraft Team wants from its partners when Bedrock expands to a new platform. Because Bedrock is a unified version of Minecraft, creators only have to build and submit their content once, and those creations will appear on all Bedrock platforms from that point forward. So when the Switch version goes live, Marketplace partners won’t have to do anything to see their content on Nintendo’s device.

“We truly believe in our ‘better together’ vision,” Stevens told GamesBeat. “And we are incredibly excited to bring all of our great partner content over to the Nintendo Switch. Many of our partners are big Nintendo fans, so we are incredibly excited to see their creations show up on that console.”

Meanwhile, the Minecraft creators who grew up fans of PlayStation will have to continue waiting to release their content on that platform because Sony doesn’t want the Bedrock version as long as it enables crossplatform multiplayer.

Minecraft has been big business for Mojang and Microsoft, but they’re not the only ones making money off a game that’s almost ten years old. There are others who have grown up with the game, learned its strengths and weaknesses and now found opportunities to make a living doing what they love.

20 year-old Florian Funke is one of those people. He’s the Managing Director of Spark Squared, an outfit that describe themselves as a “Minecraft production company”, and who offer their services—for a fee, of course—to anyone who wants them to build, develop, mod or render anything within the game.

Build worlds, basically.

“‘Building’ means that we create different landscapes, buildings, recreations and more”, Funke tells Kotaku. “We design gaming environments for Minecraft players, educational environments for students or work on recreations for our enjoyment.”

“During ‘Development’ we code custom tools and plugins for Minecraft servers, YouTube series and other. Additionally, we create Minecraft ‘Mechanics’ and ‘Mods’ for minigames and adventure maps, including ‘3D Models’ of monsters, machines and more. And lastly, we render images of all the work in 3D rendering software.”

Spark’s client list is pretty varied. “We work with a lot of the most popular Java and mobile edition Minecraft servers and create various gaming and lobby environments for them”, Funke says. “We have also worked with the mobile live-streaming service Mobcrush on creating products for Minecraft’s official Marketplace.”

“Furthermore, we are working on expanding more into the educational space and have already worked with ‘English Highways,’ an official UK government company that is in charge of building and maintaining highways. We created a world with the goal to get young children more interested in engineering and trying to fill that skills gap.”

While on paper that might sound like basic mod work of an existing game, something that can be handled by a couple of people in their spare time, in reality it’s relatively big business. Since its creation five years ago, Spark has grown from a couple of teenage schoolboys dabbling in a hobby into a company that now employs a range of staff full-time, from management to developers to artists, as well as calling upon a roster of around 40 freelancers.

I came across Spark’s work the other day when an artist I’m a big fan of, Paul Chadeisson, tweeted out some images showing how Spark (as a fun personal piece) had turned one of his works into a massive 3D space in Minecraft.

You can see that creation above (Funke rates is as one of the company’s favourite efforts), but I’ve also included other examples of their work as well, ranging from sci-fi worlds to medieval kingdoms to ancient Rome.

You can see more of Spark Squared’s projects at their company site.

VICKSBURG, MI — When Austin Roberson sat down at the computer and fired up Minecraft, he was not at home playing video games during summer vacation. Roberson was in a classroom on a Thursday afternoon at Vicksburg High School.

Students enrolled in Intro to Design, one of many engineering-type courses offered by Greg Mills, are using a video game most play for fun as educational software in their classrooms.

Using the building game, students created a virtual tour of their entire high school, including classroom spaces and the building’s exterior. Their next project is to create a tour of the old Vicksburg paper mill.

Vicksburg students use Minecraft in classroom
Mills, a teacher with the Education for Employment program at the Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency, said when this class was first opened to students four years ago, students would try to play Minecraft during class.

“Instead of telling them, ‘You can’t play,’ we gave them projects,” Mills said.

Students are using blueprints, photographs and satellite footage to create, in Minecraft, an exact replica of the old paper mill.

The old mill site will be redeveloped within the next few years into a hub of residential and commercial space. The $50 million project is called The Mill.

Roberson, sitting with 11 other classmates in a large computer lab inside the high school, worked to create a home located on the property. As his eyes moved between Google Maps and Minecraft, he moved his avatar around with his keyboard, placing boxes on top of each other.

One block in the game equates to 3 feet, so some simple division allows the students to calculate how many blocks should make up the building, Roberson said.

His class is currently working on the exterior of the buildings and grounds of the 80-acre property in Vicksburg. As The Mill is developed in the real world, the students will create a virtual tour of the new space, allowing anyone to visit virtually from hundreds of miles away.

The finished product will be shown on The Mill’s website, said John Kern, community outreach and education coordinator with The Mill.

“The mill used to be a hub of the community,” Kern said. “This is a great opportunity for us to use that space, to do something that is educational and to give these kids the chance to see that there are opportunities available to them here.”

The project is working to help “young kids get excited about something right in their backyard,” Kern said.

“If you’re going to be effective with people, you have to go where they are,” said Kern, who worked as a teacher for 30 years, about using video games in the classroom.

The current generation of students is “extremely digitally savvy,” he said.

“It feels like play, but it’s so deeply layered educationally for them,” Kern said.

“Game-ification” and the use of games to teach is a trend that can be seen from universities all the way down to preschools, Kern said.

Sitting in front of his own computer screen at the front of the classroom, Mills watched live as the students’ avatars moved quickly through the virtual space, dropping red brick boxes to create a wall of one building.

“They want to be here,” Mills said. “And they are getting rewarded for what they do.”

Using high-grade computers and industry-standard software such as computer-aided design, or CAD, software, the high school students are learning a combination of skills including mathematics, science, engineering and even photography.

This allows the students to “take what they learn and apply it in a 3D way,” Mills said.

“We utilize what they know and bring it together for projects,” he said.

But, most importantly, they are learning to communicate, Mills said.

“What do engineers do?” Mills asked the class.

“Communicate,” the students responded in unison.

Mojang has announced that the Bedrock edition of Minecraft will be making its way to the Nintendo Switch in June. This is exciting news but what exactly does it mean?

Previously, practically every version of Minecraft on various different platforms was constructed with its own unique codebase. The differences between each version caused a few problems in the world of Minecraft that needed addressing. First of all, varying codebases made it a lot more difficult to push out updates. When every version lives in its own bubble that means that every version needs to get its own update. Second, differing codebases makes it far more complicated to implement cross-play between different platforms.

The Minecraft Bedrock update will unify all versions under one codebase. This means that when developers want to push out an update to Minecraft, it should prove to be much easier to get it out to every platform at pretty much the same time. Most excitingly, the Bedrock update means that you will be able to play Minecraft on your Switch with friends on pretty much any other platform. That being said, it is no surprise that Sony continues to be a snotty brat who refuses to play nice with the other kids on the playground. That means no cross-play with friends playing Minecraft on PlayStation.

In addition, Switch players will gain access to the Minecraft Marketplace where you can pick up user-generated content like textures, skins, and entire worlds. You will also have access to community servers that will offer mini-games to spice up your Minecraft life.

If you are already a proud owner of the Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition, you will get to update to the Bedrock Edition totally free of charge. If you have yet to dive into the world on Minecraft on Switch, you can pick up a digital version from the Nintendo shop or you can get an actual physical copy. Both will be available on June 21 for about $30.

This is great news for Switch owning Minecraft players who prefer to share the experience with friends. At last, all the platform tribes will be unified! (sidelong glance in Sony’s direction)

We’re just a few days away from Microsoft revealing what’s next for its Xbox One and Windows 10 line-up, but that didn’t stop the new head of first-party games for Microsoft from talking about what lies beyond that in the near future.

Booty recently sat down with MCVUK about potentially expanding its current franchises into new directions. The company has been known to do so in the past, such as Halo with its Halo Wars strategic series and Forza with the less serious Forza Horizon games. But more work is needed, according to him.

“We’re very lucky to have a number of established franchises,” Booty explained. “When you think about Minecraft, Halo and Forza, each has over a decade or almost a decade of foundation underneath them. We need to use those franchises as a home base from which we can expand. That strength lets us branch out and take risks with them.

“With games being as large as they are, with the move to games as an ongoing service…it is difficult to pivot quickly and try to chase after trends that might happen even on the scale of a year. In business terms a year can be a long time, but development time being three to four years these days, that’s the span we need to think about. We’ve got to get our strategic long-term bets, our game development cycles and the things our players like to do in sync. And that will set us up for success.”

But the question is if these risks will pay off. There’s a good chance that the company will test out this theory in a few days by announcing three new Gears of War games including a traditional sequel; a strategy-based game like Wars; and a potential Battle Royale title to cash in on the current success of the genre. These haven’t been confirmed just yet but they could be part of Booty’s gameplan, just to see what audiences are hungry for these days.

Let’s just hope that Microsoft doesn’t forget the core fundamentals of each franchise. Sure, some Halo offshoots might be fun but we can’t forget that at the end of the day, there’s still Halo 6 to consider.

We’ll let you know what Microsoft announces when its E3 press conference kicks off this Sunday at 1 PM PDT.

(Hat tip to GamingBolt for the scoop!)

Terraria is easily one of the best values on Steam, offering countless hours of action-packed sandbox gameplay for an extremely fair low price ($9.99—and it goes on sale fairly often). Terraria’s already awesome gameplay is made even better by the incredible mods created by its community, which we’re spotlighting below.

If you haven’t yet picked it up, or if it’s gathering digital dust in your overcrowded Steam Library, now’s a great time to get back into the game and check out all of the awesome additions that have come along in its amazing seven years. Do keep in mind that while Terraria is available on basically everything but your fridge, modding capabilities are available only in the Windows, Mac, and Linux versions of the game (sorry!).

Unlike many similar games, Terraria does not have Steam Workshop support. Instead, you’ll use an application called tModLoader, which adds a mod browser to Terraria’s main menu and opens the door to the countless awesome mods within. Also, the game’s Vanilla files and Modded files are kept separate, in case you want to keep playing your “normal” game. If you’re a particularly savvy coder (or even just getting started), tModLoader can even be used to create your own mods.

tModLoader
You can find the latest version of tModLoader for download here. Extensive documentation, including a basic usage guide for installing and getting started, can be found here. Once you’ve installed the desired mods, enter the “Mods” menu, select “Reload Mods” then “Enable All.”

All mods mentioned below can be found within the tModLoader browser. Many will play nicely together, but if you need help we recommend checking out the official Terraria mods and tools forum. tModLoader also has a Discord Channel and a dedicated help thread.

Quality of life improvement mods
These mods focus on offering optimizing certain aspects of the gameplay that can typically be considered annoyances while not majorly affecting the overall difficulty.

Magic Storage: Let’s face it: As fun as those items are to collect, they’re a total pain to keep organized. Magic Storage allows you to create an item storage network that allows easy access to your things from anywhere you set up an access point. You can even search, filter and craft!

MaxStackPlus: Pretty simple mod that corrects one of the major annoyances in pretty much every game ever. All items except weapons, accessories, and armor will now stack to 9999.

Recipe Browser: Minimize your time spent scouring wikis to find out how to craft the bare necessities (and everything else) with the help of Recipe Browser. Search every in-game recipe and view exactly which materials are used to craft it, along with the required crafting station, if applicable. You can search by an item’s name or for words in tooltips, even supporting partial search terms. Recipe Browser also features a complete bestiary and item database.

Recipe Browser
Wing Slot: Wings don’t have their own slot, and they should. This mod adds a dedicated wing slot for both equipped and vanity wings.

Boss Checklist: Boss checklist is exactly what it sounds like: an in-game boss checklist mod that shows which bosses you’ve already killed and lists bosses in a recommended progression order. Simple and helpful.

Auto Trash: This mod allows you to specify items to be automatically trashed, reducing clutter (including blocks, materials, etc.) in your inventory. No more manually discarding those unwanted blocks!
Gameplay modifying mods
If you’re looking to take Terraria modification a bit further and don’t mind making things easier, check out these gameplay modifying mods that can help you get the items you need quicker and with less difficulty.

Start with Base: This relatively simple mod starts your character off in a new world with an already-established base. The mod offers a small handful of starter bases that are generated at the end of world creation. These bases are designed with your NPCs in mind and can make it much easier to get started in your new world.

Start with Base
VeinMiner: This handy mod makes it easier than ever to mine an entire ore vein. VeinMiner lets you gather all blocks in a mineral vein by mining single tile while holding the (remappable) hotkey. There’s even a toggle to make it work for other, non-mineral blocks, too!

Alchemist NPC: Vanilla Terraria’s potions are pretty awesome, but can often be difficult to obtain in desired quantities. This mod adds unlockable NPCs that sell most potions in the game, along with select ingredients. These NPCs are unlocked by beating certain vanilla bosses and meeting other requirements.

Reduced Grinding: For those players who don’t have a lot of time to play or just want to have quicker access to all the great things the game offers, Reduced Grinding is where it’s at! This mod adds special potions to help make farming easier by boosting spawn rates, toggling events, etc., and improves drop and catch rates of some harder to earn items. There’s even new recipes!

Bags of Holding: There’s no denying that inventory management can be a hassle, and Bags of Holding is here to help. This mod introduces craftable bags that can be equipped in your accessory slots to automatically collect obtained items of the selected bag type (fish go into the Fishing Bag, wood goes into the Wood Bag, etc.). This mod is great for providing an insane amount of extra inventory space as items in these bags can stack to absolutely insane limits.

Infinity: This mod adds infinite-use versions of consumable items, such as potions, arrows and torches. One less thing to worry about!

Complete game overhaul mods
If you’ve already played hundreds of hours of Vanilla Terraria and are looking for something new, you may consider one (or more) of these awesome overhaul mods. Each mod adds a ridiculous amount of new items, NPCs, bosses, biomes and so much more. Check out each mod’s thread to see what’s in store for you. Additionally, many of these mods have their own wikis, which are linked in the official tModLoader thread.

Calamity

Tremor

Thorium

Spirit

The Split

Creative and sandbox mods
If you’re in the mood for something other than the traditional Terraria gameplay experience, check out these “god mode” style sandbox mode mods that let you have fun and play around with the game’s features.

Cheat Sheet: This mod is basically Vanilla Terraria in sandbox mode, granting the ability to spawn any item, NPC, etc. you want. There’s even in-game TEdit (mentioned below) features, allowing you to paint sections of the map and copy-paste content. This one’s certainly not for a “legit” gameplay experience (after all, it does have cheat in the name), but is still totally fun to mess around with.

Hero’s Mod: This mod focuses more on a server management and administration, adding extremely useful tools that are helpful for anyone running their own Terraria server. You can control time, ban players, spawn NPCs, protect map areas and more.

TEdit: While technically not a mod, TEdit is a standalone map editor that is an absolutely invaluable tool for Terraria players. If you’ve ever seen ridiculously complex pixel art-style creations on Reddit, chances are that some of them may have been created with the help of this program. TEdit lets you load your existing world and make changes to it in a grid-based editor, offering paint-like tools to add and create pretty much anything you want. Unfortunately, this program is available for Windows users only.

TerraMap: Also not a mod, this standalone application lets you view your entire Terraria world. Simply load in your world’s save file and you’ll be able to view all blocks, ores, items in chests, dungeons, NPCs and more. This can be helpful to locate specific biomes and chests, but can certainly take the fun out of exploring the map on your own. The developer is also working on a web-based version of the tool, which you can find here.

TerraMap
You can find your world and character files based on your system here:

Windows: \Documents\My Games\Terraria\Players

Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Terraria/Players

Linux: ~/.local/share/Terraria/Players

If you’re using Steam Cloud Sync, the files will be in a different location.

/userdata//105600/remote/players

Happy modding!

Ready to get under the hood in Minecraft and start tinkering? The command line will let you tweak game settings, skip long walks, and spawn a variety of interesting and dangerous entities.

Inputting these commands is simple. While playing Minecraft, simply hit the forward slash to bring up the chat window, and add your command after the slash. We’ll cover the basic usage for each, and the Gamepedia Commands page covers the more unique use cases.

For some of the commands listed below, you may also need the list of id codes for various blocks and status effects. You can find a full list of those codes on the Minecraft Wiki, which will differ depending on your version of the game. You can also use /Help to show the available commands for your platform, and /help followed by a command to see its parameters.

This is far from an exhaustive list of commands, but provides a selection of useful and common commands that are broadly available on different platforms, with some basic use cases for each.

Inventory
Clear – If you need a way to wipe out your, or another player’s, inventory, the /clear command will do that in short order. You can simply type /clear for yourself, or add a space, then a player’s name, to erase their inventory.

Give – Instantly add an item to any player’s inventory, including yours, using the Give command. Put the player’s name first, the ID number of the item next, and the amount you’d like to give at the end.

Block manipulation
Clone – The clone command takes a snapshot of a specified region, and copies it to another set of coordinates. It requires at least three sets of X, Y, Z coordinates. The first two sets define the opposite corners of the area you’re copying from. The third set of numbers indicates the spot where the structure will be copied, starting at the lower northwest corner.

Fill – If you’d like to just create an area dense with a specific block, the fill tool makes that simple. After the command, fill in the X, Y, and Z coordinates, followed by the ID code for the block you want to use.

Player interaction
Effect – The Effect command has a number of uses, but the two most common are applying status effects to players, or removing them. To apply an effect, simply add a player’s name, and the ID code for any effect. To clear them, instead add the word “clear” after the player’s name, where the status ID would go.

Enchant – The Enchant command works just like Effect, except it applies an enchantment to the item the targeted player is currently holding, rather than the person themselves.

Kill – This one does just what it sounds like. You can use a player name or target a specific mob or NPC. If you don’t provide any parameters, the kill command will kill you instead.

Teleport and TP – These commands have some minor differences in parameter use, but they both have the same basic functionality — moving players around. The most common use is teleporting yourself to another player, or teleporting another player to you. Either way, the first name after the command should be the player you’re trying to move, and the second name is the player at the destination.

World interactions
Difficulty – Monsters giving you trouble? The difficulty command lets you change the world’s difficult settings on the fly. The peaceful setting prevents any hostile mobs from spawning, while bumping the difficult to easy, medium, or hard will make the mobs deal more damage, and render the rules around eating and surviving more difficult. Minecraft has a hardcore mode, where dying causes the world to reset, but it isn’t available as an option here, you have to select it when you create the map.

Gamemode – While changing the difficulty will make your Minecraft world more or less forgiving, the Gamemode command lets you swap between survival, creative, adventure, or spectator mode. It’s great for editing your adventures, then testing them out, or switching to creative when you just need a few extra blocks.

Locate – Dropping the Locate command in chat will return the location of the closest structure. If you’re trying to quickly locate a village, mineshaft, or stronghold, this will tell you where to find it.

Playsound – This command lets you play any game sound, originating from any other player, including yourself. The first parameter is the sound itself, which is available either in the file in your game client, or on the Minecraft wiki. If you’re playing the Java version, you’ll need to specify the audio source, as in master, ambient, music, etc. Finally, target a player for them to hear the noise, or a position for it to come from. To stop it, use the same parameters, but with Stopsound instead of Playsound.

Setworldspawn – Punch this command into chat to set the new spawn point for your world right where you’re standing. Alternatively, you can add coordinates on the end to specify a remote point. If you use the Spawnpoint command instead, you can set a player’s personal spawn point.

Summon – Use this command to summon any mob, or a variety of non-block items, into the world around you. You’ll need to use the Entity IDs, found on this Gamepedia page, to actually spawn in the correct mob or item.

Time – In lieu of an in-game clock, you can use the Time command to set the current game time, or just find out what time it is now. One of the most common uses is skipping over nighttime in creative mode, which you can do by entering Time Set 0, which will turn the clock to dawn instantly.

Monsters burning after an unexpected sunrise
Weather – Too rainy for your tastes? The Weather command can change the weather around you by following the command with Clear, Rain, or Thunder. You can leave it blank to set it and let the weather change naturally, or add a number of seconds for the downpour to last.

Server settings
Op and Deop – Use the Op command, followed by a player name, to promote them to Operator. This will allow them greater access to server commands and settings. If they start abusing their power, the Deop command will strip them of their title and make them a regular player again.

List – The List command displays a quick rundown of all the players current connected to the server.

Setmaxplayers – Need to let more people play with? Or maybe things are getting a little too crowded? This command will change the total number of players who can connect to you or your server.

Transferserver – Hop to another server without navigating back to the main menu using the Transferserver command. As long as you know the IP address, you’re good to go.

Chat
Me – A classic chat trope, the Me command, followed by a third-person statement, will simply share that you “did” that in chat.

Say – The Say command Broadcasts a message in chat to everyone currently playing on the server.

Tell – Whispering secrets? Follow up the Tell command with a player name, then the message, to send the message directly to them and no one else.

Roblox, the massively multiplayer online game favored by the under 13 crowd, is following in Minecraft’s footsteps with a move into the education market. The company this morning announced a new education initiative, Roblox Education, that will offer a free curriculum to educators, along with international summer coding camps, and a free online “Creator Challenge” in partnership with Universal Brand Development, which will see kids building Roblox games inspired by Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

The gaming company has been around for many years, but only recently reached a critical mass where it was ready to talk about its numbers. Today, Roblox sees over 60 million monthly active users, and its creator community building new worlds for kids to explore has doubled to 2 million this year from the year prior, it said earlier this year.

Roblox gets kids coding by hooking them on the game itself when they’re young – around elementary school age. By middle school, users are downloading Roblox Studio to build their own games and experiences. And by high school, they’ve learned to code to customize their games even further.

And the kids aren’t just building for fun – there’s money to be made, too. The top creators make two to three million a year, the company claims. The games are free, but creators monetize through the sale of virtual goods. Roblox says it paid out $30 million to its creator community last year, and is now cash-flow positive.

With Roblox Education, the aim is to get more kids coding by working with educators directly.

The new curriculum offers teachers 12 hours of step-by-step tutorials, handouts, technical setup guides, outlines, lesson guides, and more. It’s shared freely under a Creative Commons license so teachers can use or modify it as they see fit. In the future, the curriculum will be expanded to include other subjects, as well, like Physics and Design, the company says.

In addition, teaching kids how to use Roblox Studio will be the main focus of more than 500 coding camps and online programs this summer in the U.S., U.K. Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada, Spain, Brazil, and Portugal. The kids will learn how to create, publish and market their games to others.

The company will also run its 4th annual Roblox Summer Accelerator, and host 45 young developers at its HQ for the summer. The program has previously produced some of the more popular Roblox titles, like MeepCity and Lumber Tycoon.

And it will host its annual Roblox Developer Conference in San Francisco July 13-15, 2018, and in Amsterdam August 17-19, 2018. It’s doubling the number of attendees this year at both.

Finally, Roblox will host its first Creator Challenge with Universal, where kids learn tricks of game building via a Jurassic Park-themed, self-paced course.

“Roblox’s mission is to power and fuel imagination while inspiring a new generation of creators,” said Grace Francisco, VP of Developer Relations at Roblox, said in a statement about the launch. ”We are thrilled to be launching our education initiative that gives young people of all ages and backgrounds the chance to develop the crucial skills needed to be tomorrow’s entrepreneurs and creators.”

“Minecraft’s” big Bedrock update is coming to Nintendo Switch on June 21, Microsoft announced on Thursday.

The Bedrock version of the popular sandbox game allows everyone to play together, regardless of platform. (Unless you’re a PlayStation 4 owner. Sorry, Sony isn’t getting in on the crossplay action.) Plus, Switch owners will be able to access new minigames and game modes through online community-run servers.

Bedrock also brings a new in-game store called the Minecraft Marketplace, which lets players buy community-created content like skins and texture packs using a new currency called Minecoins. Microsoft introduced the Marketplace in June 2017 and invited 12 community members to become partners. Those people reportedly earned $1 million in less than three months. Microsoft has since paid over $7 million to “Minecraft” creators since the Marketplace launched, according to an interview in Fast Company.

People who already own “Minecraft: Switch Edition” will get the Bedrock update for free when it’s released. There’s also a new physical version on the way. It costs $29.99 and includes all previously released downloadable content, including the Super Mario Mash-Up Pack. It will hit store shelves on June 21 alongside the Bedrock update.

Microsoft said “Minecraft” will support the Nintendo Switch Online paid membership when it launches in September, along with Xbox Live achievements and PlayStation gamerscore.

Developer Mojang is still working on another big “Minecraft” patch dubbed “Update Aquatic.” It will add shipwrecks, dolphins, coral reefs, and more. There’s no word yet on when it will officially launch.

Minecraft is one of the best-selling video games of all time, selling more than 144 million worldwide across all platforms.